Side Drum shell, 12th Sudanese Battalion, Egyptian Army, 1910 (c)

Sheet brass by Hawkes and Son, London.

The 12th Sudanese Battalion comprised volunteers recruited in the Sudan and was commanded by British and Egyptian Officers. The 12th Battalion had fought in the Sudan in 1898 at the Battle of Atbara to defeat Mahdist forces. The emblazoning on the drum records their participation in that and other battles in the Sudan.